“We can still catch the next train”, he simply said, glancing at the clock on his phone.

Just like that, the greatest part of the awkward, slightly ambiguous mood just vanished.
I can’t say I was mad about that.

If anything, I was happy that I wouldn’t need to deal with an awkward conversation right after sharing our first kiss as a couple, which coincidentally ended up as a french kiss...

Mizuki is kinda more mature than me concerning all this, huh…

…

Did I just hear a snort? I think I heard you snort, system, didn’t I? You definitely snorted.
[This servant did no such thing.]
No no, I can definitely hear you. Write all you want, I’m sure I can hear you!

So, what did you snort for?

[Mizuki has a good pokerface, host. It’s not even that he uses it on purpose, but that doesn’t mean that he might not be troubled behind his calm facade.]

...Sooo you’re saying I’m not the only one very flustered about that kiss?
...That’s good.

I kept my head empty while going home with him, steering clear of any potentially dangerous topics.

The next school days were a bit weird to endure, especially with Mizuki leaning against me on the train and me sometimes having the opportunity to steal a few tiny kisses when no one was around.

Friday came and I was delighted because Mizuki had invited me to come over, after all.
Just to show him how to play that game, but it was his place.

I was just excited about seeing Mizuki’s room and that excitement carried over to my body.

My boyfriend’s reaction to seeing me all fidgety like that was luckily mostly reserved amusement.

His house wasn’t too far from his station, just a few minutes of walking. He unlocked the door and invited me in, and I instantly began to look around everywhere.

The house was very different from him, decorated in most corners and overflowing with paintings and other artistic things. He threw his bag into a corner and slipped out of his shoes, inviting me to do the same with an unceremonious wave.

“My younger sister loves decorating everything”, he explained, then walked off to a door at the side and entering it.

His room was much more like him, with simple designs. A violin case was placed in the corner.

“You really play the violin.”
I made some weird sounds. Hoped he wouldn't notice. Mizuki pulled a face.

“My sister. I practice along to motivate her. I know it doesn’t suit me”, he pouted.
“No, that’s not it. I think the image looks nice, I was just... mentioning it, that’s all.”

Yeah, uh, let's skip that.

[Host?]
Yes?
[Is something the matter?]
I don't know what you mean! Topic change!

“I don’t have a set-up like you do. Can I play on my laptop?”
Thank you.

Mizuki changed the topic and pointed at his laptop on the table. I looked over it.

“Should work perfectly fine, you can play with only the keyboard, too. Don’t need the mouse.”

I glanced around on where to sit. His bed made most sense and my mind wasn’t so dirty that I couldn’t imagine sitting on his bed without doing anything. 

The fact that something was on my mind was still caught by him, though.

“What?”, he asked and I twitched, shaking my head.
“Nothing.”
“I can’t read people. Talk.”

Ehhh… Even if you say that… I can’t just say I want you to sit on my lap cause I want to hug you while showing you the game, can I?

I deliberated a moment on how to break that issue and finally decided to sit on the bed.

He watched me with a tilted head as I awkwardly patted my leg.
“Uhmm, I can explain things to you the best this way?”

My crooked smile was awkward enough. I wasn’t telling a lie, it was just like any other thing. Even during sports, the trainer would come from behind to correct your positioning. 

Mizuki didn’t look offended or like he thought I had something dirty in mind. He fetched his laptop and placed it next to me, then climbed onto the bed and sat down in my lap.

I made a small sound when I suddenly felt his weight on my legs and chest as he leaned back and reached out to drag his laptop onto his own laptop.
“Tell me when your legs get tired.”

Nu-uh. I won’t tell you even if my legs are about to die off from the blood not getting through. You’re fine right where you are.

I held back tears of joy and slowly laid my arms around his waist. He twitched and shifted for a moment, but settled down in the end. I hadn’t tightly wrapped my arms around him in fear of him resisting, they were just loosely placed around him. 

Mizuki stretched his legs and entered his password for unlocking the laptop. When the laptop had fully started, he lowered his hands and made place for me to start installing the game.

“I’ll explain the classes and everything to you while it’s installing, that way we can start right away when it’s finished.”

Since my face was right next to his ear, I didn’t need to talk loudly. For some reason, that fact made me inexplicably happy. 
He sat in between my arms that typed away on his laptop. 

I loved feeling him breath, his body moving along with every in- and exhale, his hair brushing against my cheek. I involuntarily tilted my head to lean closer to his.

Because I was heavily tempted to kiss his ear.
It peeked out from those pitch black strands, tinted red, and I already knew it was a sensitive zone from when we had been on the train. Even just my breath had made him quiver, so it couldn’t be helped that I desperately wanted to see his reaction when I actually teased him.

At the same time, I didn’t want to take too many risks; we just started going out and there’s no way to interpret someone nibbling on your ear other than sexually. Unless it’s a cannibal.
But yeah, kisses are still a very romantic and loving gesture, hugs were sweet, too, but that is probably too much…

“Stop talking into my ear”, Mizuki growled at me, lifting his hand to hide it and glaring at me.

I twitched back, laughing in shame.
“Sorry.”

His eyes flickered.
“It’s distracting”, he muttered, sounding almost coquettish. He flinched, probably surprised at his own tone and then taking down his hand to put it in front of his mouth with a frown.

Goddamn it, he’s not doing that on purpose, is he? 

I swallowed the heat back down and tried to concentrate on the screen when a popup froze my body.

[(Please choose what to do.)

• Kiss his cheek
• Kiss his neck
• Kiss his ear

I’m not joking, by the way. It literally froze my body. I couldn’t move anything other than my eyelids and mouth.
Similar to how the usual dialogue choices affected my voice, this affected my whole body.

Which was a huge fuck-you.

Dating sims really do have choices where you decide on an action, but they weren’t usually that forcefull, so I hadn’t thought about them!

Moreover, why is it like this! I’m going to kiss him anyway??

Cheek would be the safest choice, neck is… Honestly, I feel it’s the most dangerous one, and ear is the most tempting because I want to do that even without a prompt!

Another message appeared above the choice, personally sent by the system.

[Host knows himself and his three friends. The target is male, just like those four examples.]

...You’re saying that he’s just as - let’s be plain - horny as any other guy our age? I mean, we had that conversation before, but it's still a weird thought, you know? But I guess it's trueß

Then maybe he wouldn’t mind if I choose the ear-

My body moved and I mentally threw curses at my system.
I haven’t chosen yet! I was just thinking about it!

There was no stopping my own body. My lips pressed against his ear that immediately grew hot under my touch.

“Wah!”
Mizuki jolted again and gasped, a seductive high-pitched sound that sounded like anything other than a rejection. If anything, it was completely inviting me to tease him some more.

My brain fried away as he curled up in my arms, throwing one arm up to cover his ear and the other to cover his mouth. His eyes were brightly glistening as he glared at me.

I might have been worried if it wasn’t for the bright red blush on his cheeks spreading over his whole face and the soft quiver of his body that was transmitted over to me where we touched.

So cute! Way too cute! Look at this ice prince who is usually prone to biting, embarrassedly curled up because of his own reaction! Fuck!! You’re definitely seducing me!

Owl

So that's the slightly sexual part that's continuing in the next chapter C: I'm not writing a warning yet because essentially, nothing much is going to happen, but it does already hint at how things are gonna play out in the future xD
I also read the newest review and yeeeees we will get flashbacks and comments as to where Riku's crush is from, but ultimately... You will have to wait until Mizuki asks :P (This is totally not so late because I only noticed at the end of arc 2 that I never really wrote the backstory I had in mind. Nope. It's... placed that late on purpose. For reasons...)

Mizuki's theater:

Mizuki: "What. The. Fuck."
Mizuki: "Is. My Problem."
Mizuki: "With my goddamn ears!!!"
Riku: "(...I don't see no problem here...)"